The new age of neurodegenerative diseases. The basis of the new approaches
*Correspondencia: Dr. Guillermo Garcia Ribas. Servicio de Neurología. Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal. Ctra. Colmenar, km 9,1. E-28034 Madrid.
E-mail: ggribas@salud.madrid.org
The detection by biomarkers of the pathophysiological and molecular processes involved in misfolding protein diseases making it possible to delineate the natural history of these processes. The great majority of protein misfolding diseases have a prolonged preclinical phase, in which the biological changes are patent. The clinical manifestations (i.e., phenotypes) do not have a univocal correspondence with the underlying pathology, despite the fact that pathological eponyms have been used for the description of the clinical syndromes, which has favored diagnostic inaccuracy. In order to perform an adequate clinical management, we must know the 3 planes that currently define the most common neurodegenerative processes. Diagnostic accuracy will be a prerequisite for new therapies aimed at modifying the course of brain protein misfolding diseases.
